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Where's the rest?! I'm so curious and intrigued

Thank you for your submission; it has scored 14 points!

Okay, how about... Scepter Stone Cat. Can you do anything with that?

If you can find the time between repairs I think there's more to share of this boarding with beasts adventure.

Waiter water warthog

Benevolent Fire Elk

Tom Scott, you say?

"this is the Minotaur's broken shower."

Definitely interested in more!!

Well, I'm interested.

I checked and double-checked my rental agreement. Apparently, if I did repairs, and could show evidence of them, as well as receipts, I could get the costs removed from my rent. And it would benefit me. And I suppose the other occupants, I hadn't met them much yet. Anyways, I'd been an on site manager before, and had picked up a lot of generally useful handyman skills. So I set to work.

I'm a morning person. I wasn't always, but working a few 6-2 shifts in IT, then leaving after the company turned to shit, kind of changed me. Thanks to said company turning to shit, my settlement means I don't have to work for several years, so I'm working on a few things before I go back to school. And a cheap place like this feels just nice. My neighbors have interesting names. Carmilla Ruthven. Fidel Sigurdsen. Heather Eurytou. Just a few. I haven't met any of them yet, they're probably night owls like I used to be. Still, after fixing the sticking buttons in the elevator, oiling several hinges, and doing small tasks around, they might be happy.

One night, I hear a voice outside my window. I look out, and see some sort of weird vision, it looks like a woman glowing at first, then I shake my head, and I just see a bat hitting the window. Odd behavior for a bat. I hope it's okay.

The next night, I hear howling. It sounds like it's coming from inside the building. I roll over and go to sleep. After living in Salem, that sound doesn't bother me any more.

I'm just about to head to bed when I hear a knock from my door. I look out the peephole and see a woman. Briefly, I get a sense of size and power, but that goes away. I open the door. "Hello?"
"Oh hi, I'm Heather, your neighbor. I was just check..." she trails off, looking at me. For a moment, her eyes glaze over, then she looks at me. "You fixed the elevator? And the hinges?" I nod. She thinks a moment, then mutters in something I think sounds like Greek. "Okay. We have a thing happening Friday night, around... 8:30pm. Think you can make it?" I nod. "Good. See you there. It's at my apartment across the way."

Friday arrives, and I show up. I'm wearing nice casual: a polo shirt, slacks. Not sure how formal this thing is, but I figure I might as well not look like a total slob. I get in, and suddenly I stop. One woman has fangs, and they don't look fake. That man has a legitimate wolf head, not a fake one. And then there's Heather... She's about ten feet tall. I see a man on fire, or made of fire, someone with dark wings... Heather looks at me. "My friends, we don't need to torment this one. If he can stand our true forms, he is welcome by my vote, as he is fixing the complex. Who else agrees?" The man with the wolf's head nods, as does the man on fire, and the thing with dark wings makes a gesture of assent. The woman with fangs sighs and nods. "Good. Now, mortal, if you can withstand this night with your sanity intact, you will find us good friends and neighbors."

Lately, my life has been good. There's no physical security like a werewolf and vampire pair. A demon and djinn are looking over my employment contracts. And I have a divine seeress who can tell me I'm even going to survive Ragnarok... Whatever the hell that is. Apparently a lot of gods are going to die. I'm not worried. As for the landlord... Well, he's on their shit list after he tried to screw me out of the value of the repairs I made. After a week, he applied it to my next month's rent, but he also seems to be more annoyed than scared. Whatever just finds these guys annoying is something to be wary of. That said... My life is better now.

>And I've had way worse room mates in college."

That line had me in stitches.. awesome.

Thanks.

There is interest.

Sounds like an intro to a nice/fun bookseries or TV series..

More please?

Goddes, Fire, Frog

Full Metal Wolf.

Winery Darkness Lemur

Good story bso far.

The red eyes blazed from the corner as the hell hounds approached. Their master, a terrifying demon with large horns and glowing yellow eyes bore down on the unsuspecting human.

"I am here for your soul" it hisses in a voice that shook the house.

"Ok. But hand me that monkey wrench first." Came the somewhat muffled response. The owner of the voice was shoved half under the sink, holding one grubby hand patiently awaiting the tool. Caught off guard, the demon complied.

"Uhh sure... what are you doing?" The demon watched the human wriggle and grunt, changing the pipes.

"Getting some decent water pressure. What good is a functional heat pump if we can't get any decent water pressure?" The human popped out and scrambled to its feet.

"Heat pump? You mean- hot showers?" The demon positively danced with glee.

"Yup. Pretty easy fix. My uncle was a plumber. Taught me all about this stuff." The human turned on the taps and after a minute, clear hot water poured from the spout. The succubus from the attic sat on the chair by the dining table.

"Last week she git rid of that squeaky floorboard on the third step. And the mold in the attic is gone."

The demon looked at the human who sat up on the counter and opened a beer. "With skills like yours, you could live anywhere."

"Can't beat the rent." She shrugged and took another sip. "And I've had way worse room mates in college."

anti-coagulant fire gecko

More? Please?

Yes, absolutely there is interest to hear about Cody and the old babushka

Gold Temporal Duck

Cody looked from the crumpled sheet of paper in his hand to the old graystone building in front of him.

"13 Gates Ave...Pandora Arms Apartments..." he mumbled, reading off the tarnished brass nameplate that hung askew from the outside of the building, held in place by a single remaining screw on one corner.

This was the place, and despite its somewhat run down condition, it didn't look nearly as bad as he'd expected. Cody wasn't sure why his boss, Roman, a bad tempered 40-something man of Eastern European extraction, had given him the tip on the Pandora Arms, when he'd mentioned he was looking for an apartment.

The previous week, when Roman found out Cody was dating his niece Maria, he'd literally threatened to murder and fire him, in that order. But now, here he was, giving him the inside scoop on an unlisted apartment for rent.

He walked up the steps to the entrance, nothing that here was an old style buzzer system with a button for each apartment. The nameplates were all faded, and some of the buttons were missing, but the door was open a crack, so he simply let himself inside.

"Talk to Mrs. Krokomar on ground floor -- tell her Roman send you," his boss had gruffly instructed him, when he'd thrust the paper into Cody's hands.

Glancing around, he saw only two doors in the entry, not counting the antique bronze scissor gate that led to the elevator. One was unlabeled, but the other bore a brass plate engraved with "Manager". Cody stepped up this, and knocked politely.

Scarcely had he done so when the door swung open a few inches, until it was kept from opening any further by a pair of chains and a security shackle visible through the gap. A single rheumy eye glared at him, set in a face mostly hidden in shadow.

"What you want?" the old woman rasped.

He cleared his throat. "Mrs. Krokomar? I was told to ask about an apartment for rent--"

"No vacancy!" she snapped, and slammed the door in his face.

"--Roman sent me." he finished, belatedly.

To his surprise, the door snapped open again.

"Roman send? Send you? Why he do that?" the woman asked, suspiciously.

"He, um...well, he said something about you owing him a favor?" Cody said, hesitantly.

The old woman's eye narrowed, shrewdly. "Maybe I do. But why for he spend that favor on you?"

Cody laughed, nervously. "Actually, I don't know, ma'am. Roman's my boss, but up until today, I really didn't think Roman liked me -- especially after I started dating his niece Maria."

Cody blinked in confusion, as the old woman abruptly burst out in a fit of raspy cackling. "Ha! Bastard!"

Before he could process what she meant by any of that, she slammed the door again. This time, Cody heard the sound of the chains and shackles being undone. The old woman flung open the door, revealing a surprisingly ordinary looking senior citizen Mrs. Krokomar was short and slightly stooped, and wore a faded pink tracksuit, with skin the color and texture of old leather and her steel-gray hair pulled back into a bun.

"Okay," she said, motioning him inside. "Come on in, we talk about signing lease."

"Thanks," Cody said, stepping inside. "This is a really nice building you've got here."

"Is garbage dump." she said, flatly, waddling past him into the small living room of her apartment.

Cody chuckled nervously. "I mean...I guess maybe it could use some TLC, but the architecture, and the location? This is really something!"

"Whatever you say." she said, with a dismissive wave of her hand, as she walked over to a bookshelf, and pulled out a sheaf of wrinkled papers that had been jammed between two thick volumes with Cyrillic titles on their spines. "So you want rent apartment, yes?"

He nodded, "Uh, yes ma'am."

She grunted, squinting at the papers as she leafed through him. Finally she pulled out a slightly yellowed sheet that looked like it had been made on an old typewriter. Sinking into a threadbare armchair, she slapped the paper down on the coffee table before them.

"Lease is for six months, rent is six hundred, plus another six hundred deposit." she said.

Cody's eyes widened. It was an incredible deal -- even he could afford that much. "Wow."

The old woman held up a finger. "One thing -- you, eh...what is word...superstitious?"

He frowned. "No, not really. Why?"

She shrugged. "Only vacant apartment is number 13. Some people would say is bad luck, eh...you know, cursed."

Cody chuckled. "Oh. Nah, doesn't bother me. I don't really believe in that kind of stuff."

Mrs. Krokomar smiled. "Ah, good, good. Smart boy." She reached into the pocket of her tracksuit, and produced a fountain pen. "Tell you what, you sign here, and bring money later -- I hold room for you, yes?"

Cody perked up. "Really? Just like that? I haven't even seen the room yet..."

She waved her hand. "Don't worry. Is in good shape -- best room in building, trust me. No bugs, no leaks, no nothing like that!" She tapped the lease agreement with the pen insistently. "Let's just get ball rolling, so I can take off market, eh?"

Cody hesitated. That seemed a little sketchy. But on the other hand, if it did turn out to be a dump, it'd be pretty hard for her to enforce an un-notarized document, and he didn't want to upset the old woman -- she seemed kind of eccentric. So, hesitantly, he took the pen from her, and scrawled his name on the lease document.

He jumped in alarm, as the moment he finished writing his name on the page, the lights flickered wildly. He looked around frantically for several seconds as every light in the old woman's apartment flashed like a strobe, and the scent of ozone filled the air.

"What the hell was that?" he demanded.

The old woman shrugged. "Old building, old wires. Don't worry, is fine."

(End of chapter 1, may continue if there's interest.)

##Magic of the World

Uwe ran from the city. The concrete walls constrained him and stifled imagination. That horrid place caused all adults to be miserable.

“Uwe.” Mr. Schultz pointed at him. “Stop looking outside. Your obliviousness misquemes me.”

“Watching bird poop is more interesting than you,” Uwe replied.

“Rector’s office, now,” he says.

He saw small kids at the edge of the park. They played tag, and a few kids picked up sticks. Their smiles shone brightly. Age had a way of dimming those smiles. Uwe decided to join them. When he approached, they stared at him.

“Hello, may I play tag?” he asked.

“You’re too big for us,” one kid said.

“Yeah and weird.” The kid laughed and ran from him. Uwe was left alone.

“Uwe, I received a call from the rector,” his mom said. Uwe ignored her and went to his room. “Uwe come down here. I’m talking to you.” Uwe obliged. He stood in front of her with his arms crossed. “He said you insulted your science teacher and spit on the rector in his office. Is this true?”

Uwe turned away from her and didn’t answer.

“You have ten seconds,” she said.

“I did it.”

“Uwe, I’ll have to take away your video games for a week.” Uwe sighed. “You will be going to the Gymnasium soon. How can I trust you to behave there?”

“I won’t,” Uwe shrugged.

“Uwe, how can you forget your manners,” she said.

“Because manners are stupid,” Uwe said.

“Go to your room,” she yelled.

Uwe reached a small tree and sat under it. He looked up at the leaves and watched the sun dance through them. The leaves came alive and swirled around him. They cheered him up with their song. It went…it went.

He shook his head. The leaves weren’t able to sing. He put his face to the bark to listen to the people living inside of it. The people were hard at work, but they didn’t acknowledge him.

The roots were home to the anteaters that sucked water and worms from the ground. They were the friendliest parts of the tree, and even they treated him coldly.

All alone, he began to cry. He loved the nature around him. The life inside of it was available only to him. They told him that they showed themselves to children because children could appreciate it. Eventually, he wouldn’t be able to see them. It had to come to an end.

“Uwe.” His mother walked up to him. “Why did you leave?”

“You’re just going to punish me.” Uwe crossed his arms. His mother sat down.

“I don’t want to. I don’t like hurting the ones I love,” she cried, “Especially when something is bothering them.”

“The world is getting duller,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“It used to be filled with magic and joy. Now, it’s all gone. I’m turning into an adult,” he said.

“Sweetie, the world is getting familiar. It’s part of growth, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t magic.” His mother touched the tree. “Like this. Do you know what xylem and phloem are?”

“What are those?” he asked.

“Well, the xylem is how the tree transfers the water it gathers at its roots. While the phloem is how it moves what the leaves make in photosynthesis. I told you about photosynthesis right?”

“Yeah, it’s the magic the leaves do to create air and their own food. I wish I could do photosynthesis,” Uwe said.

“There are a lot of reasons why you can’t do that. You could learn them by reading about biology.” She took his hand. “You are an intelligent and creative young man. However, those are meaningless attributes if you are hard-working and respectful. You may be losing the magic of youth, but there is a magic that comes with age, an understanding of the world. The science behind life is known and can be studied. Your reflections on your life can be made into art and literature. You can blossom in new ways, but you have to be open to accepting them.”

“Can’t I enjoy being a kid?” he asked.

“Of course, no one said that there isn’t joy in being an adult. Like me, I feel joy whenever I see your smile.” Uwe smiled in response.

“Thank you mom.”

She stood up with her hand in his. “Now, let’s go home. Though I loved our chat, you were still disrespectful today. As such, you must vacuum the floors and help your father with the lawn.”

“Mom.” Uwe slouched his shoulders.

“And you will write a letter to the rector and science teacher apologizing for your actions,” his mom smiled, “That’s a part of life.”

r/AstroRideWrites